• Vincent Mathéron grew up in Marseille before leaving for California to live his passion for skateboarding. 

  • He participates in the Tokyo Olympic Games in the park or bowl category. 

A small detour to Marseille before flying to Tokyo.

The Marseillais Vincent Mathéron will play his first Olympic Games, in skateboard, in the park or bowl category.

He confides in

20 Minutes

on his ambitions, just a few months after a triple ankle fracture.

You chose to come back to Marseille before going to Tokyo, for what reason?

Yes, I returned on June 21, I had been in the United States since January, where I started to skate again.

It feels good to come back home to skate.

It's a homecoming that allows me to gain confidence before the Olympics.

And it had been a while since I had been here to skate.

Why did you choose to settle in the United States, and more specifically in California?

Already because the skate parks are bigger.

In France there are regulations to protect children while there they are higher.

And also because all the skaters are there, well all the skaters that I face in competition, so it's motivating to skate with them.

Here in France, it's football, over there it's skateboarding.

And also for the weather, the weather is nice all year round so you can skate every day.

The few rainy days give you rest.

By the way, you stayed with Tony Hawk, right?

Yes when I moved there I slept a little at his place while I found a car, an apartment.

He had a small free studio so he kindly offered it to me.

He has a lot of great advice to give since he created half of the tricks.

Even if in the world of skate everyone gives advice.

You come back from a big injury, how are you?

I had a triple malleolar fracture last June, my ankle dislocated and everything came apart.

Fortunately I already knew that the Olympics were postponed.

I came back to France and was bedridden for three months last summer.

It was horrible, luckily I was surrounded.

My first rehabilitation was done in Cape Breton, in a center in full confinement so it was a bit like prison for me.

Then I went to Austria where I was accompanied by the Red Bull teams.

There I was able to go out, get some fresh air, see the friends a bit, it did me a lot of good.

Was it your first big injury?

No (laughs).

This is my fourth serious injury.

It's part of the game and I accept it.

My first big injury was the cruciate ligaments and I was very scared.

I did my rehabilitation with Tom Pages, freestyle motocross rider, and he told me that we come back twice as strong after an injury.

And it's true, injuries make you grow, you mature.

Well, I still have 15 screws, three pins and two plates, it sometimes hurts a bit but I tell myself that at least the ankle will not loose during the Games.

And I have to have an operation to remove them afterwards.

How did your preparation go?

I've only been walking for ten months.

I qualified last May during a competition in the USA, that's also why I couldn't have the pins removed, it was too short.

I had my family near me so it feels good, because I'm alone in Tokyo.

I trained in the wild because I was told it would be very hot in Tokyo, although it was more difficult to prepare for the humidity here.

Do you have any hope of bringing home a medal?

I don't think anyone goes there just for the Olympic Village (laughs).

I am less favorite than the others, but I have a card to play.

I don't know the bowl from there, but there's a way it fits my style of skateboarding, and if I go all out I think so, I have a chance.

And it makes me less stressful to be able to surprise.

Have you noticed a professionalization of the discipline since it entered the Olympics?

When we arrived at Insep, they hallucinated.

We ended up with judokas who were thoroughly into their preparation.

When they asked us about our program, we told them “we have two years before the Olympics, so we have time”, they didn't like it too much (laughs).

In the USA, they are very professional, and in Europe it is starting to happen.

Before there was no agent in skateboarding, now there is.

We also see that there are more and more skateparks everywhere in France, the municipalities no longer see us as the little idiots who make noise below their window, but as athletes.

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  • Olympic Games

  • Tokyo Olympics 2021

  • Marseilles

  • Sport

  • Skateboard